Upward-Facing Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)

Pronunciation and meaning

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana: OORD-vuh MOO-kuh shvah-NAHS-uh-nuh. Svanasana starts with a soft shv sound.

Upward-Facing Dog is a backbend in which you lift your chest on straight arms while the thighs and knees hover off the floor, so only the hands and the tops of the feet touch the mat. Urdhva means upward, mukha face and svana dog. It is stronger than Cobra and usually comes inside a Vinyasa flow.

How to do Upward-Facing Dog

1. Lie on your belly with the legs hip-width apart and the tops of the feet on the mat. Place your hands beside your lower ribs, fingers spread.
2. Press the tops of the feet down firmly until the knees begin to lift.
3. Breathe in and straighten the arms, drawing the chest forward and up through the gap between them.
4. Lift the thighs and knees off the floor, so only the hands and the tops of the feet touch the mat.
5. Roll the shoulders back and down, wrists under the shoulders, and keep the neck long with the gaze forward.
6. Hold for one to three breaths, then lift the hips back to Downward-Facing Dog or lower to the mat.

Make it easier

• Do Cobra instead, with the hips and thighs on the floor and the elbows bent.
• Lower the knees to the floor and lift only the chest on straight arms, a halfway step.
• Place blocks under the hands to give the chest more room.

Pregnancy and after birth

Pregnancy. Avoid. Lying on the belly is not suitable in pregnancy, and a deep backbend stretches the front of the belly. Choose a gentle arch of the back on hands and knees instead, and check with your OB or midwife before you start.

After birth. Adapt. Wait for your doctor or midwife to clear you, and longer after a caesarean birth. Begin with Sphinx and low Cobra, and leave Upward-Facing Dog until there is no doming along the middle of the belly.

Prenatal and postpartum guides live on joahnnalee.com.

Common mistakes

• Letting the hips and thighs sag onto the floor while the arms are straight, which hangs the weight in the lower back.
• Shrugging the shoulders up to the ears.
• Throwing the head back to look at the ceiling.

Upward-Facing Dog is the strong backbend inside many Sun Salutations, and the one most often rushed. Done well, it is a short, bright lift that lasts a breath or two.

In Vinyasa taught step by step, it helps to begin with Cobra and lift the thighs only once the shoulders stay down.

Upward-Facing Dog or Cobra?

In Cobra, Bhujangasana, the hips and thighs stay on the floor and the elbows usually stay bent, so the bend is small and steady. In Upward-Facing Dog the arms straighten and the thighs lift, so the whole body hangs between the hands and the feet. If your shoulders hunch or your lower back pinches, Cobra is the better choice for now, and there is nothing lesser about it.

In a flow you usually arrive here from Chaturanga, the halfway lowering from Plank. Lifting the legs as well as the chest from the belly, without the hands, turns this family of shapes into Locust Pose, Salabhasana.